SHORT TALK BULLETIN INDEX
Vol. XXIX No. 11 — November 1951
Grand Lodge Seals
“And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.” Daniel 6:17.
Few if any stories in the Old Testament are more loved than the tale of the courageous Daniel, thrown into the lions’ den. Darius set over his kingdom a hundred and twenty princes, and three presidents over these and wanted to make Daniel first over all of them. Resenting this, but unable to find any fault in Daniel of which they could complain, the princes made a plot and persuaded the king to sign a decree that no one should make petition “of any God or man for thirty days, save thee, O King” under penalty of being thrown to the lions.
A religious man, Daniel still prayed. When this was reported to Darius, who had signed the decree, he had no choice but to throw Daniel to the lions. A stone covered the opening to the den and “the king sealed it with his own signet.”
Yet the next day Daniel was found unharmed and his persecutors were thrown to the lions instead!
The Book of Daniel was probably written about, or a little later than 170 B.C., which gives the use of a seal (signet) the respectable antiquity of more than two thousand years.
In early Bible days when the letter-writer had finished his cuneiform message, he had the sender and the witnesses remove from around their necks their own small cylinder seals and roll them over the still wet clay to make their signatures.
Cylinder-seals were incised on many hard surfaces, from baked clay to lapis lazuli, gold, silver, carnelian, blue chalcedony, rock crystal, pink marble, jasper, shell-core, ivory, and glazed pottery. Their artistic quality was remarkable as, up until Assyrian times, they were chiseled with inefficient copper tools.
In early Egypt, cylinder-seals were of wood, soon followed by ivory. The seal of Darius the Great shows the king in his two-wheeled chariot, between two date palms. His charioteer is driving over one lion; the king, with bow in hand, stands ready to shoot another lion standing on his hind legs. The winged disk is at the top center of the seal, along with the letters of the god Ahura Mazda. At the left is a trifingual cuneiform inscription saying in old Persian, Median, and Babylonian, “I am Darius the great king.”
The seal was already old and hoary with age when the earliest books of the Old Testament were written; in the pre-dynastic period of Egypt, before the first Pharaohs, seals were in use to attest documents and transactions.
The very word seal is a modernization of ancient syllables; the Romans knew signum (sign) and its diminutive siggillum, from which we have insignia, and ensign and sign and, via old English, sigil, old French seel, the English words seal and sealing wax, and to seal, to close.
To attest ownership, transfer of property, and verity of agreement seals antedated signatures by hand. Today few individuals either use or require seals except a few who close envelopes with sealing wax and signet rings.
The Notary Public uses a seal to attest the documents of those who swear to their signatures. Legal documents emanating from law courts and judges are attested with seals.
The modern corporate seal is the subject of law in many states, but it has been held that whether or not a law covers the adoption and use of the corporate seal, the right to adopt and use is an inherent right of the corporation.
Some states require a corporate seal; some documents must be attested by a seal; but in the absence of such law a seal is not necessary.
Many grand lodges print their seals on their letter paper. This is not an “official” use of the seal in the sense that it attests the validity of the signature or the powers of the signer of the letter. A corporate seal must be affixed when a document is signed, be the adopted corporate seal and authorized by the proper officer, if the laws of the state so declare. Use of a printed seal upon letter paper does indeed indicate that the letter paper came from the Grand Lodge offices; it is but an indication, and not a proof.
By no means all grand lodges are incorporated, but all grand lodges have seals and the requirement that particular lodges adopt and use seals is practically universal. Many seals are as old as the Craft. Many old Masonic characters and other documents are finished with a seal, consisting of a circular, flat, open box of metal, filled with wax, on which the seal is impressed; the same wax also attaches the seal by a ribbon to the document.
Masonic seals almost always are circular. Ancient oval seals alluded to the old Christian symbol of the Vesica Pices, literally, a fish bladder, which replaced the Christian symbol of the fish; the oval Vesica Pices was the aureole or glory of ancient paintings in which the Virgin was depicted. The oval seal was reserved for the church, the circular for others. (One grand master in this nation has an oval seal.)
The first Grand Lodge of England (1717) adopted the seal of the Masons’ Company of London. The Antient Grand Lodge (1751) authorized a seal which Laurence Dermott found in a work by Jehudah ben Leon, a Hebrew scholar whom he admired.
No two grand lodge seals are alike, although many are similar. The most used design is that which prominently displays the two pillars in the porch, either alone, or combined with other and smaller symbols. Grand lodges which have adopted this design are Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and the District of Columbia. Oregon displays the pillars on a shield, the only United States grand lodge which does not use a circular seal.
Four grand lodges show a strong Royal Arch influence in the design chosen; Arkansas, Alabama, Indiana, and Utah use the two pillars and connect the tops with an arch.
Eight grand lodges have shields heraldic in character, developments of the coat-of-arms idea, some with, some without Masonic symbols. These are Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.
The Square and Compasses, either with or without a book beneath, are the principal emblems in the seals of seven grand lodges; Colorado, Iowa (with a sun in the center), Maine, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Three grand lodges have pictured outdoor scenes on their seals: Kansas, a Mason in apron and tall hat joining hands with an Indian; Montana, a mountain scene (as is natural in that state which is “The Land of Shining Mountains” and in which the first known Masonic meeting was held outdoors); North Dakota, a sheaf of wheat suspended from the limb of a dead tree above a waterford, with Jacob’s ladder leaning against the limb.
The remaining twelve are difficult to classify. Georgia uses an adaptation of the familiar past masters jewel, with compasses open on a quadrant; Idaho delineates two figures beneath the all-seeing eye; Illinois prominently displays the words “faith, hope and charity” above Masonic symbols; Michigan pictures the familiar Blind Justice with her scales, amidst Masonic symbols; Minnesota uses an altar and symbols; Nevada delineates the broken column with time and the beautiful virgin; New Jersey sets sun, moon and stars above the open Book of the Law; Pennsylvania and Maryland have faces representing the sun with rays to the edge of the seals; Washington’s seal is dual, with a figure holding acacia in one hand and the anchor in the other, to the left, and several Masonic emblems in a frame on the right; West Virginia displays several Masonic symbols; and Wyoming, a sword pointing to a book.
Some of the seals are simple; others are complex both in symbolism and in engraving. In some, ancestral influence is to be seen. Thus, California is decidedly similar to New York, which gave of its Masonry to Connecticut, from which grand lodge derived one of the lodges which formed the Grand Lodge of California.
Maryland Masonry derived from that of Pennsylvania, and the seal of the Grand Lodge of Maryland is obviously an adaptation of the seal of the Mother state.
Arkansas has the two pillars joined by an arch; one of the parents of Arkansas Masonry was Alabama, which has a similar design in its seal. Such imitation or adaptation can only be considered as a pretty compliment paid by the newer grand lodge to the older.
The Seal of the United States is not Masonic although some mistaken enthusiasts think that it is.
It is true that it used the All-Seeing Eye and the pyramid (a development of the triangle) and both Eye and triangle are Masonic symbols. But both were in use long before Freemasonry in its most primitive forms began. The Eye as a symbol of Deity is to be found all through the Old Testament. The triangle was man’s earliest symbol of Deity. Merely because these are upon the seal of the United States does not make it Masonic any more than the Swastica, ancient symbol made of four joined squares, made Hitlerism Masonic!
On every one dollar bill, on the left, the reverse of the seal of the United States shows an unfinished pyramid, depicting both the stability and strength of the Union and its incomplete growth. The All-Seeing Eye, of course, is a symbol of the Supreme Builder who may some day finish the pyramid. But the seal was not designed by Masons, nor adopted because it was Masonic in character, although no Mason need be less proud of his country and his Craft, because they both use the same symbols!
The seal of the United States was discussed in the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams were appointed a committee to prepare a seal. As Franklin was a devoted Mason, and Jefferson probably a Mason,[1] it might be
’ supposed that they did think of a Masonic symbol for the seal. But the actual seal was not designed until six years later and then only verbally, when William Barton, private citizen, and Charles Thompson, secretary of congress, submitted a description of both obverse and reverse of a seal. This was adopted by Congress June 20, 1782 and again after the adoption of our Constitution by an act on September 15,1789. The reverse of the seal has never been cut as a die or used for the purposes of a seal on official documents of the nation. It is the obverse which is so used; the familiar eagle with arrows and olive branch, stars and shield — see the right hand side of any dollar bill.
The use of the seal of the United States on documents as a symbol of dignity and authenticity is strictly defined by law. The Judiciary Act of 1789, which designated the secretary of state as custodian of the seal, made provisions for the use of the seal which have been changed only slightly by subsequent legislation. The seal is kept in the Division of Protocol of the Department of State. It is affixed to civil commissions of Cabinet officers, Ambassadors, and Ministers, and to exequaturs issued to foreign consular officers; and to instruments of ratification of treaties, powers to negotiate a treaty or to exchange ratifications, presidential proclamations, and to envelopes that contain letters of credence or other ceremonial communications to the heads of foreign governments.
The use of the design as the national arms and emblem of authority is less clearly defined. It is used on medals, currency, official stationery and publications, Army service caps and uniform buttons, and as an architectural adornment. It is placed above the entrances to United States embassies, legations, and consulates all over the world. With an encircling legend “Department of State, United States of America” it is also used as the official insigne and official seal of the Department of State and, with a legend designating the particular post, on the seals of Foreign Service establishments throughout the world.
The seals of the grand lodges of the United States are, in one way, the signatures of those grand lodges, grand masters come and go; grand secretaries one by one are gathered to their fathers and replaced by new
incumbents, but grand lodges do not die. Hence it is necessary that there be an ever-living signature and this is found in the seal, a device as sacred and important to the Craft in a jurisdiction as the Great Seal of the United States is to the nation which with it signs its most important and vital documents.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
- Subsequent research has found no evidence that Thomas Jefferson was a Mason. ↩
Masonic Titles
Carl H. Claudy
The words “worship” and "worshipful” as used in Freemasonry have no connection with their modern meaning of glorification, idolization, and deification. In church the congregation worships God; in a lodge a brother is “Worshipful” when he is master; in grand lodge a brother is “Most,” “Right,” or “Very Worshipful,” the words being used in the old English sense.
The word ship as a suffix (hardship, horsemanship, lordship) is from scip and/or skap — Old Teutonic words indicating a rank or qualities that go with it. Anglo-Saxons used weorth to describe value. Hence “Your Worship,” and also the Masonic “Worshipful.”
“Honor thy father and thy mother” in the King James Bible, was “Worship thi fadir and thi modir,” in the Wycliffe Bible (Fourteenth Century).
Masonic usage of the word may be freely given as respected, or honored. The Most Worshipful Brother is he who is most greatly honored or respected. This is doubtless as much a descendant from ecclesiastical practice as from old English phraseology; an Episcopal marriage service used “with my body I thee worship” meaning honor or reverence.
It apparently was first used Masonically at the formation of the mother grand lodge; Andersons Constitutions has a “Postscript” titled “Here follows the Manner of constituting a New lodge, as practis’d by his Grace the Duke of Wharton, the prefent Right Worfhipful grand master, according to the ancient Usages of Masons.”
The word was used in other than ecclesiastical circles at a very early date; Samuel Pepys’ Diary notes a clergyman having addressed his congregation as “Right Worshipful and dearly beloved” in 1661. In the seventeenth century, gilds in London called themselves Worshipful, as “The Worshipful Company of Grocers.”
The use of “Most,” “Right,” and “Very” in Masonic titles seems a direct descent from the Church of England. The heads of the Church are the Primates of Canterbury and of York. Their official title is “The Most Reverend.” Under them in the Hierarchy come “The Right Reverend the Bishop” The next title of honor in the Church is that of “Very Reverend” applied to Deans or heads of Cathedral Chapters. In the English parish is “The Reverend Parish Priest” who is assisted by two wardens. There is a strong resemblance between the ceremony of the induction of the priest into the benefice of a parish and that of the installation of a master of a lodge. In the more formal appointment of a Canon the resemblance is more marked by the ecclesiastical use of the word “installation.” The Bishop installs the new Canon with a ritual that comes with no novelty to one who has previously been installed as the master of a lodge. In the United States “Most Worshipful” is used in the official titles of some grand lodges, as well as for grand masters. These titles differ in the several states; many variations are interesting, as AF & AM - AYM — AFM — F & AM — and FAAM.
The titles of the forty-nine Grand Lodges of the United States copied from their Proceedings, are as follows:
Grand Lodge, AF & AM of Alabama.
Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Arizona.
The M.W. Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Arkansas.
The M.W. Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons
of the State of California.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Colorado.
The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Connecticut.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Delaware.
The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the District of Columbia. (This grand lodge abbreviates Free and Accepted Masons, F.A.A.M.)
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge F & AM of the State of Florida.
The Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free and Accepted Masons.
The MW. Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Idaho.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Illinois.
The MW. Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana.
Tire Grand Lodge of Iowa, AF & AM
The MW Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Kansas.
The Grand Lodge of Kentucky, F & AM
The Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, Free and Accepted Masons.
The Most Worshipful Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Maine.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of AF & AM of Maryland.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Michigan.
The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Minnesota.
The Grand Lodge of Mississippi, Free and Accepted Masons.
The Grand Lodge, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Missouri.
The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ofMontana.
The Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Nebraska.
The Grand Lodge of Free Accepted Masons of the State of Nevada.
The M.W. Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New Hampshire.
The Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons for the State of New Jersey.
The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of New Mexico.
The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York.
The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina.
The Grand Lodge AF & AM of North Dakota
The M.W. Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Ohio.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Oklahoma.
The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Oregon.
The Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania and Masonic Jurisdictions thereunto belonging.
The Grand Lodge of The Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons for the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of South Carolina.
Grand Lodge Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of South Dakota.
The M.W. Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Tennessee.
The M.W. Grand Lodge of Texas.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Utah.
The M.W. Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Vermont.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The M.W. Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons ofWashington.
The M.W. Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of West Virginia.
The Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons of Wisconsin.
The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Wyoming.
The United Grand Lodge of England is “The United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.” Ireland has its “The Grand Masonic lodge.” In Scotland, the governing body is “The Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons.” In France are “The Grand Lodge of France,” “The National Independent and Regular Grand Lodge of France and the French Colonies,” and "The Grand Orient.” The same titles are used by the grand lodges or Supreme Masonic authorities of Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Greece, and also by the Grand Lodges of the South American states.
The correct Masonic method of addressing grand officers in the United States is as follows:
Grand Master is Most Worshipful in 48 jurisdictions. In Pennsylvania he is Right Worshipful.
Grand Wardens are Right Worshipful in all jurisdictions.
Senior Grand Deacon is Right Worshipful in 8 jurisdictions and Worshipful in 39 jurisdictions.
Junior Grand Deacon is Right Worshipful in 8 jurisdictions and Worshipful in 38 jurisdictions.
Grand Stewards are Right Worshipful in 6 jurisdictions and Worshipful in 36 jurisdictions including Virginia, unless, in that state, the Grand Junior Steward is a Past Grand Master and then he is Most Worshipful.
Grand Secretary is Right Worshipful in 46 jurisdictions and Very Worshipful in 3 jurisdictions.
Grand Treasurer is Right Worshipful in 44 jurisdictions and Very Worshipful in 3 jurisdictions. (Nebraska and Washington states have no Grand Treasurer.)
In Maine the Grand Secretary and Grand Treasurer are Right Worshipful only if permanent members of grand lodge. In Mississippi, North Dakota and Oklahoma the Grand Secretary, if a Past Grand Master, is Most Worshipful.
Grand Chaplains are Right Worshipful in 9 jurisdictions, Right Worshipful and Reverend in
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jurisdiction, Right Reverend in 1 jurisdiction, Very Reverend in 1 jurisdiction, Reverend and Worshipful in
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jurisdictions, and Worshipful in 16 jurisdictions.
Grand Orator is Right Worshipful in 5 jurisdictions and Worshipful in 11 jurisdictions.
Grand Sword Bearer is Right Worshipful in 3 jurisdictions and Worshipful in 25 jurisdictions.
Grand Standard Bearer is Right Worshipful in 1 jurisdiction and Worshipful in 9 jurisdictions.
Grand Pursuivant is Right Worshipful in 3 jurisdictions and Worshipful in 27 jurisdictions.
Grand Bible Bearer is Worshipful in 4 jurisdictions.
Grand Lecturer is Right Worshipful in 8 jurisdictions and Worshipful in 10 jurisdictions.
Grand Organist is Worshipful in 3 jurisdictions.
Grand Tiler is Right Worshipful in 3 jurisdictions and Worshipful in 34 jurisdictions including Minnesota, where he has this title only if he is a past master.
Grand Marshal is Right Worshipful in 11 jurisdictions and Worshipful in 31 jurisdictions.
Officers are both “senior grand,” “junior grand,” and “grand senior” and “grand junior.” Senior and Junior Grand Wardens, Deacons, Stewards are in 41 grand lodges; Grand Senior and Junior Wardens, Deacons, Stewards are in 8 grand lodges. In Missouri, Wardens are Senior and Junior Grand, and Deacons and Stewards Grand Senior and Junior.
In all grand lodges, Grand Masters retain their titles when leaving office, except the Grand Master in Texas who is “Most Worshipful” as Grand Master and “Right Worshipful” as Past Grand Master.
In 39 grand lodges all elective officers retain their titles when they become “Past.” A few grand lodges have no law on the subject; in others titles are not retained.
In other bodies of Masonry, officers and grand officers are addressed as follows: In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, the Grand Commander is addressed “Sovereign Grand Commander,” the Lieutenant Grand Commander as “Venerable Lieutenant Grand Commander,” the Grand Pryor as “Venerable Grand Pryor.” The Grand Chancellor, Grand Minister of State, Grand Secretary General, Grand Treasurer General, Grand Almoner, Grand Chaplain, Grand Orator, Grand Master of Ceremonies, Grand Chamber- lain, First Grand Equerry, Second Grand Equerry, Grand Standard Bearer, Grand Sword Bearer, and Grand Herald are addressed "Brother” followed by the title.
Active Members and Deputies of the Supreme Council are also addressed as “Elustrious Brother (name) . . .” followed by title. Active Members and Deputies not holding office may properly be addressed as ‘Illustrious Brother (name), Sovereign Grand Inspector General (or Deputy of the Supreme Council) in (state or territory).”
Hie Supreme Council has not legislated concerning titles or modes of address in subordinate bodies of the Scottish Rite. These titles are taken from the ritual. The address is usually by title only — such as “Wise Master” (Chapter of Rose Croix), “Venerable Master” (Lodge of Perfection and Council of Kadosh). Custom in some valleys is to address 33° honorary brethren as “Illustrious Brother. . . .”
The present Statutes provide specifically for the mode of address to the first three officers of the Supreme Council. Earlier Statutes provided that all other officers of the Supreme Council be addressed as “Brother,” followed by title. While this provision is not now mentioned in the present Statutes, it has not been superseded by new instructions and is still observed.
In the, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction the Grand Commander is addressed “Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander” at least officially, but in Supreme Council meetings this is customarily shortened to “Soverign Grand Commander.” The Lieutenant Grand Commander is addressed officially as “Puissant Grand Lieutenant Commander,” but unofficially is addressed Grand Lieutenant Commander.”
All other officers are addressed as “Illustrious Brother (name) . Titles other than those named above are not used unless the Grand Commander issues a directive to any of them, when he may use the full title.
The Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar is addressed “Most Eminent.” All other officers are addressed “Right Eminent.” All Past Grand Masters of the Grand Encampment are addressed as “Most Eminent.” In Grand Commanderies of the states, the Grand Commander is addressed as “Right Eminent.”
Addresses vary for lesser officers, but in general “Very Eminent” and “Eminent” for the higher and lesser officers prevail.
In Grand Chapters of Royal Arch Chapters, “Most Excellent Grand High Priest” and “Right Excellent Deputy Grand High Priest” is proper; in the General Grand Chapter the addresses are similar; “Most Excellent General Grand High Priest” and “Right Excellent General Deputy Grand High Priest.” As these official titles are so long, they are by common consent usually shortened to “Most Excellent” and “Right Excellent Companion (name).”
In the Grand Councils of Royal and Select Masters the modes of address are “Most Illustrious Grand Master,” “Right Illustrious Deputy Grand Master,” with the other officers merely “Illustrious” with a few exceptions. In the General Grand Council, however, the word “Puissant” is added, the titles being “Most Puissant General Grand Master,” “Right Puissant General Deputy Grand Master.” All others are “Right Illustrious” except the General Grand Sentinel who is “Puissant.”
The Imperial Council of the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, addresses all Imperial officers as “Imperial Sir”; Temples of the Shrine address the Potentate as “Illustrious Potentate” and all other officers as “Noble” (name of office.)